Lights Will Guide You
by S. L. Rode
Summary: Taking a trip back to the pilot episode to the Amy/Jesse break up, with a cameo by the since elusive Jen. It's an AU story set around Valentine's Day by request of one of my tumblr followers.
1. Chapter 1

"So what are you and Jesse doing for Valentine's Day?" Jen asked, peering at Amy from behind her open locker door while she pulled the books needed for her assignments out to stuff into her bag.

"I don't know. I mean, he asked but I didn't know what to tell him." Amy shrugged, not having been in much of a mood for Valentine's Day this year. She wasn't in much of a mood for any sappy holiday really so close to her mother's death.

Jen scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You mean he actually asked you what you wanted to do? Guys are so clueless."

"Yeah, but I don't really blame him. I've been kind of avoiding him lately. I just never know what to say to him. It's been kind of awkward since…"

"Oh… right. Well, you guys are at least getting together right? Maybe he's going to surprise you." Jen spoke up a little hopefully, a spark of excitement flashing in her eyes as she perked up.

"I guess we'll find out." Amy's brow rose when she saw Jesse come around the corner behind Jen, causing the other girl to stand straighter and turn around to look at him.

"We still on for tonight?" Jesse asked, adjusting the strap of his backpack on his shoulder and looking a little hesitant as if expecting Amy to have changed her mind.

"Yeah, yeah definitely. Seven?" Amy answered with a bright smile, nodding as Jesse visibly relaxed and reciprocated her grin.

"Okay, great. I'll see you tonight." He leaned in to leave a parting kiss on Amy's cheek before heading out to catch his bus.

"Did you see his face? Totally has a surprise planned," Jen practically squealed, making Amy just laugh and shake her head before walking with Jen to catch her own bus home.

* * *

"Where are you headed?" Ty asked on his way from the loft to the house for dinner, looking Amy up and down when he ran into her at the front walk all dressed up.

"It's Valentine's Day, I have a date with Jesse," she informed him rather cooly, turning her eyes toward the driveway to see the headlights from Jesse's Jeep making their way down.

"Yeah? Where's Richie Rich taking you?"

Amy shot him a reproachful look, pursing her lips and folding her arms to her chest. "That's none of your business." She turned away from him.

Ty raised his arms in surrender, taking a few steps back toward the house. "All right, fine. Have a good night," he told her, walking up to the porch but stopping to turn and watch Amy climb into the Jeep. He smiled at her, she at him, but Ty could tell her smile wasn't as genuine and even forced as Jesse leaned over to kiss her. It was a short kiss, made that way by Amy ending it to reach for her seat belt and shooting a glance out of her window. As Ty watched he could tell she wasn't really into going out with Jesse, whether it was because of the spoiled kid himself or this day in particular or just the fact she'd rather remain home. Ty just shook his head after Jesse made the loop around the driveway to head back out, wondering how long it would be before Amy was searching for a way out.

* * *

"More bubbly?" Jesse asked, holding up the half-empty bottle of sparking cider, pouring some into Amy's champagne glass when she nodded and held it steady for him.

As it turned out, Jesse did have a bit of a romantic surprise for them in the basement of the Stanton house. Though she was pretty sure the housekeepers prepared the food, Jesse had taken the time to set everything up on the floor in front of the massive plasma screen television. He laid out blankets like a picnic, turned down the lights and lit the room with delicious smelling candles. He even set up the home theater with one of Amy's favorite movies to watch when they were through eating.

"This was really nice. Thank you." Truth be told, Amy hadn't been too enthusiastic about going out tonight with Jesse, thinking they'd have ended up at some party at his friend's place or get sucked into the one Ashley was throwing outside in the rec room of Briar Ridge's massive stable. While she still felt ill at ease spending alone time with Jesse after being so distant since getting out of the hospital, knew the ice needed to be broken again somehow.

She took a sip of the sweet carbonated liquid then reached for a chocolate-covered strawberry as Jesse sat the bottle aside. "Well the night's not over yet. We still have that movie to watch." He smiled, moving the container of strawberries onto the coffee table behind them then grabbing the remote and starting the movie.

Amy propped pillows behind her, leaning back against the table as Jesse did the same beside of her. Her eyes were on the screen, watching the opening credits fade in but started to feel so awkward and self-conscious sitting there in the quiet with Jesse. Her eyes lowered from the television and slid over to take a peek at him, turning to look at him directly when he did the same. They exchange a shy smile when their eyes met, Amy moving hers back to the screen before Jesse was easing himself closer and draping his arm across her shoulders. Amy watched him, not moving into or away from him but waiting to see what else he did. She used to be so comfortable curling up against him on the couch, but now it just felt so strange to her.

"I love this movie," she commented, trying to break the silence.

"I know," Jesse replied, making Amy turn to look at him again when she felt his eyes on her.

He took that as his cue to lean in and press their lips together, not wasting any time in putting some fire behind the kiss. Amy moved her mouth with his, but when she felt him start to lean into her, leaned away. Jesse's hand slid over her thigh, his fingers dipping inside of her legs making Amy tense and reach down to push it away.

"Jesse…" she started, trying to tell him this wasn't how this night was going to go, but he pressed, moving his hand from her thigh to her stomach, pushing it beneath her shirt and up her body toward her chest.

"Jesse, stop it," Amy protested, being more firm in her attempt to push him away from her.

"Come on, Amy. It's Valentine's Day," he murmured against her lips then tilted his head to get to her neck where he began sucking on her skin.

"I said stop it. It's not happening," she said more firmly, using more force to push him away. This time Jesse backed off, looking at her with an expression of disbelief as he wiped his mouth.

"You know, there are a hundred girls out there who would have killed themselves to be in your place tonight," he snapped rather rudely as Amy scrambled to her feet.

She shot him an annoyed, yet hurt, look. "So then go find one of them," she shot back, running up the stairs and snatching her coat from the closet by the door.

Amy ran outside before she even bothered to put her coat on, fighting tears as she jogged down the fronts steps to Briar Ridge's driveway. She paused hearing the sounds of the party coming from the stable, taking the moment to pull on her coat as she contemplated finding someone there to ask for a ride home. But then decided she didn't want to have to explain about Jesse and took to just walking herself home. With any luck someone would pass by and offer her a ride. The road between Briar Ridge and Heartland wasn't well traveled, but at least anyone who did travel it would be someone Amy knew and probably kind enough to pick her up.


	2. Chapter 2

It was cold. Amy regretted her decision to walk back to the ranch about two minutes after leaving Briar Ridge's gates. Alberta winters were not merciful and Amy was wishing she'd brought a heavier coat. She hadn't really been expecting having to brave the sub-zero temperatures for more than a few seconds though either. She was also thinking this would have been a great time to be in possession of a cell phone as well. Jesse used to bug her about that all the time, but truthfully she never really needed one when the phone at home worked just fine. Now she could see how it would be useful. But there was really nothing she could do about it now and just wrapped her coat tighter around her and folded her arms to keep the warmth in, bowing her head to the frigid mountain breeze that brought the promise of more snow and pressed on.

* * *

"Ty!" Ashley called, waving to him from the pool table when she saw him enter the rec room. Ty gave her a glance as his gaze rolled over the rest of the crowd looking for Amy and Jesse. "I'm glad you could make it after all. I thought Jack had you on lock down or something," she laughed, easing up against him.

"Yeah well, I got off early. Good behavior," he looked down at her, having had no intentions of coming to this party because he thought Amy would be spending her Valentine's Day back at Heartland. Instead he found out that she did, after all, have a date. "Have you seen Amy?"

At the mention of Amy Fleming, the frown instantly darkened Ashley's face and she took a step back. "Why? It's not like she'll be interested in seeing you here. She has a date with my brother, her _boyfriend_." Ashley enunciated the word as if to remind Ty that the girl he sought was taken and unavailable, not to mention Amy Fleming of all people.

"Have you seen her or not?" Ty asked again, trying not to sound annoyed but Ashley was a little too, well, snotty and privileged for his taste. Not that she thought so.

"They aren't here." Was all she answered in a rather dismissive way, changing the subject. "But since you are, stay a while. There's an open bar and if things get a little crowded we can always have some privacy in one of the staff apartments," she tempted him with a little sultry smile.

Ty just stared down at her with a little unimpressed smile. "Thanks, but I need to head back," he told her taking a step back toward the door. "Maybe next time." Or never.

* * *

Amy stared down the road that seemed to never end. It felt like she'd been walking forever and was getting no where. She was surrounded by trees on both sides and nothing but dirt road in front of and behind her. It almost felt as if she was just walking on a treadmill with a film clip playing in front of her. The only thing assuring her that she was in fact moving forward and closer to home were the "Private Property No Trespassing" signs posted at intervals along her route. She used them like check points.

Aside from the sound of her own feet crunching on the frosted grass along the side of the road, the night was otherwise quiet and still. It was actually a peaceful and beautiful February night, that would be appreciated a little more if it would just warm up another few degrees. Unfortunately, Amy wasn't taking in the beauty of nature around her or the bright stars shining over head. Her eyes were focused on the road ahead and her mind on the events behind. She couldn't believe Jesse could be so disrespectful and hurtful like that, using this special day to try and get into her pants. She hadn't been ready for that before the accident and most certainly wasn't now when their relationship shriveled away to nothing. It hurt her more that he continued to push her for it instead of backing off the first time she showed resistance. That wasn't the Jesse she knew and it brought tears to her eyes then to think that he'd changed that much over the last few weeks to try to make her do something she didn't want to do, nor was ready for.

It was too cold to cry, the tears freezing almost instantly on Amy's face. She wiped away the small ice crystals that stuck to her cheeks and eye lashes, sniffing and willing herself to stop crying. Jesse wasn't worth crying over after the way he just treated her.

She walked another few minutes before the sound of a vehicle approached. Amy listened to determine which was it was headed before turning to see the headlights approaching from behind her. She couldn't tell from the glare who it was, but continued walking and glancing over her shoulder as they got closer.

"Hey!" Ty called as he approached, looking confused and a little concerned to see Amy walking alone on the side of the road.

Amy paused and turned to see Ty pull up along side of her, sighing. Figures he would be the first person to run into her. "Hey yourself. What were you doing at Briar Ridge?" Last she saw he was headed inside for dinner and then needed to do night check on the horses since she didn't know when she'd be back to do it herself.

"Ashley invited me to her lame Valentine's Day party." He shrugged, sneaking looks through the windshield to make sure he wasn't driving off the road. "Why are you out here? Where's Jesse?"

"Why do you care?"

Ty sighed, not understanding why she always had to have an attitude with him. "I'm just asking. Seems kind of rude of him not to at least bring you back home after your date. Not much of a gentleman."

Amy knew Ty was right and that anyone would ask why she was out walking this deserted road alone, but for whatever reason it just bothered her more that Ty was the one asking. "What would you know about being a gentleman?"

Ty shot her a look of insult. "What, just because I'm on probation I don't know how to respect a girl? Besides, isn't it customary for the guy to pick up and drop off the girl after a date? I thought that was like an unwritten rule or something."

Amy glanced at Ty as she continued walking beside his truck. "The date didn't quite end as planned. I left before he had a chance to offer me a ride home."

"So you just decided to walk five miles in the middle of the night and bitter cold? Why didn't you call someone to pick you up?"

"I don't have a cell phone and didn't bother to linger at the Stanton's long enough to use their phone. It just felt easier to walk. At least I was getting somewhere."

Ty was curious to know as to what happened on this date that seemed to end so unfavorably, but decided not to press his luck. Still, the thought of Jesse upsetting Amy in such a way that she felt the need to walk home by herself at night in the dead of winter than ask her boyfriend to just take her home made his blood boil. "Get in."

Amy stopped then turned to look at Ty, his request sounding more like a command than an offer. She stared at him when he hit the brake then glanced back to look at her. "No."

Ty looked at her a little confused. "Come on, Amy. It's freezing out here."

"I said no, Ty," she told him rather harshly, turning her head away and started walking again.

Ty stared after her, totally bewildered by her behavior. "What is wrong with you? I'm just trying to give you a ride home. You'll freeze to death out here," he called after her, touching the gas pedal to catch up to her again.

"Just… go away. I'll be fine," she told him, lowering her face toward the ground so her hair hid the tears that welled up in her eyes again. She felt like she was reliving her fight with Jesse and wasn't about to get in a truck with someone who right now sounded just like him.

Ty's eyes watched Amy intently as she made all attempts to hide her face from him, which told him that she must be crying. There was no other explanation for her sudden change in behavior. It made him stop and again wonder just what the hell had happened between her and Jesse.

Ty stepped on the brake and put the truck in Park then climbed to walk up beside of Amy. "What the hell happened tonight? I could tell when you left you weren't thrilled about going and now you're out here alone… look at me." Ty took a step in front of her, taking hold of her arms to stop her. She turned her head away from him again but the lights from his truck reflected in her glossy eyes. "And practically in tears. What did he do?"

Amy clenched her jaw, pulling her arms from Ty's grasp and walking around him. "Nothing."

Ty reached out quick to grab her arm again, watching in utter astonishment as Amy grabbed his wrist to throw his hand away from her and took several steps back away from him.

"Amy…" His voice turned soft as he gaped at her, heat rising in his chest with the urge to climb in the truck and track down Jesse to break his face because he obviously did something bad enough to hurt Amy, or at least scare her.

"I'm sorry." She was startled by her own reaction to Ty's abrupt movement. He was just trying to keep her from walking away, but she panicked. Amy looked up at Ty, seeing the surprise and confusion in his eyes, even concern as he stared at her.

Ty didn't move again, just remained standing where she'd left him with his hands innocently in front of him in a gesture of surrender. "No, I shouldn't have grabbed you like that. I'm sorry. I just didn't want to keep chasing you." He studied her carefully, wanting to ask but was afraid of the consequences.

Amy felt so foolish now for acting like she had, not realizing what Jesse had attempted to do scared her that much. Sure it had bothered her and hurt her that he could be so selfish and thoughtless, but he'd backed off and let her go. She really didn't want to discuss that with Ty, though, someone she barely knew more than a week. So instead looked toward his truck that say idling a few yards away. "Does your offer still stand? For that ride?" she asked, pointing toward the old GMC.

Ty lowered his hands, continuing to watch Amy for a few more moments. "Yeah. The heat doesn't work though."

Amy offered him a small smile, backtracking to Ty's truck. "That's okay. Anything is warmer than out here." She shivered, climbing in the passenger side as Ty got back behind the wheel again. He stole a look over at her as he put the truck in gear, watching her body language as she pressed her hands together between her tightly closed legs.

They were silent as Ty got them moving toward Heartland again, taking probably a good couple hours away from what it would have taken Amy on foot. He stole a few glances at her as he drove, seeing her just staring blankly out of the windshield.

"He tried to… " Amy started, catching Ty's attention, but then stopped and seemed to think better of it and chose different words. "He made a pass at me. And when I told him to stop he wouldn't," she said finally, lowering her eyes to her lap. "I mean he did, eventually, and maybe… maybe I was giving him signals. I don't know. I just feel so stupid."

"You're not stupid, Amy. He's a jerk. No means no, don't they teach you guys that out here in the sticks?" Ty glanced at her with a little half smile, hoping to get one in return but all he got was a little half-hearted twitch of her lip.

"I never thought he could be like that. He was always so kind and decent. Now I just don't know what to think anymore." She looked toward Ty, wondering if he had some sort of insight into it, seeing as he was a guy himself.

"Want to know what I think?" Ty asked, looking at Amy for confirmation. "Guys like that aren't worth it. You can do better than him and from the look of things, he isn't too concerned with you storming out on him right now. I'd say don't waste your time trying to fix what happened tonight and don't accept whatever apologies he tries to throw at you tomorrow. Chances are it's just going to happen again. And next time you might not be so lucky that I was in the area." Ty tossed a teasing smile her way before focusing his attention back on the road as Amy let his, surprisingly helpful and thoughtful, advice sink in.


	3. Chapter 3

The ride back to Heartland was quiet, Amy climbing out of the truck when Ty pulled up in front of the ranch house. "Thanks for picking me up." She offered him a light parting smile before heading inside.

Ty sat in front of the house for a few moments longer, watching her go inside and shut the door. His glance shifted to the left when he saw the light of her bedroom come on and her shadow moving in front of it. When it disappeared again, he looped the truck around the circle to park back in front of the barn and head up to his place in the loft.

"You're home early," Lou remarked, joining Amy in the bathroom as she brushed her teeth. "How was your date?"

Amy was glad to have a mouthful of toothpaste so she didn't have to answer Lou in so many words. "Fine," was all she replied, scrubbing vigorously and avoiding meeting her sister's eyes in the mirror.

"Just fine? Are things still weird between you two?"

Amy took an unnecessary amount of time to rinse and spit, then clean the extra foam from her toothbrush before answering. "Not anymore," she answered, wiping the corners of her mouth and booking it out of the bathroom before Lou had a chance to press for further information. However, she should have known her sister wouldn't just let it go and rolled her eyes to herself when Lou appeared in her doorway a few minutes later.

"Did you break up with Jesse?" Lou asked as if she couldn't believe it, making Amy look at her like she didn't have a clue, because she didn't.

"So what? A lot of things have changed since mom died." Amy didn't want to talk about this night anymore, afraid it would bring her to tears again in front of Lou and that was the last thing she wanted. She kept herself busy moving about her room, stuffing her books into her bag for school tomorrow and making every attempt to ignore Lou and get her to take a hint.

"Amy," Lou started, making Amy turn to glare at her.

"Lou, I don't want to talk about this, okay? My relationships are none of your business," she snapped, pulling her hair from the band and snatching up her brush to run quickly through her hair.

"Well, it didn't even seem like you wanted to try to pick things up again with Jesse."

" You know what… you have no idea about my relationship with Jesse, so stop acting like you do." Amy became rough with the brush, raking it violently through her dirty blonde locks.

"I just think-"

That was the last straw. Amy tossed her brush onto the dresser with a loud bang, cutting her sister off. "I need to do night check," she said through clenched teeth, leaving Lou with a look of contempt as she gaped at her.

Amy shoved her feet roughly into her snow boots and grabbed her coat from the hook, rushing out the door before Lou had the chance to catch up to her.

Amy loved being in the barn at night. It was quiet and peaceful with just the sounds of horses munching on hay and settling in for the night. She made her way down the aisle, peering into each stall as she passed to check that water buckets were full and everyone ate their grain and was otherwise doing okay. She turned to grab a pair of scissors to break open a hay bale to throw everyone another couple flakes when she saw Ty sitting beneath the loft steps with that guitar he couldn't even play.

"Haven't you given up on that thing yet?" she asked with a little smile, coming over to stand in front of him.

Ty looked up at her, playing a few random notes. "I figure if I play around with it enough I'll end up learning something."

Amy raised her brow a little skeptically, nodding and turning to go back and finish the rounds. "Well, good luck with that. I'm just going to finish checking up on the horses."

"Hey," Ty said to stop her. "You okay?"

Amy paused and turned around with her eyes tracing a crack in the concrete floor. "Yeah," she answered, looking back at him again, assuming he was asking from earlier. "Yeah, I will be." And she would be but was kind of dreading having to face Jesse, and everyone else for that matter, at school tomorrow. The idea of skipping had crossed her mind, but she missed so much already from being in the hospital and just generally grieving that she really couldn't afford to miss any more due to relationship drama.

"Not exactly the Valentine's Day you were hoping for, was it?" Ty asked, feeling bad that her night had been ruined the way it had despite feeling a bit smug over the fact that Jesse screwed up royally beyond repair.

Amy gave him a small shrug. "No, but I wasn't really in the mood to celebrate it anyway. Things have been kind of weird between Jesse and I since I got out of the hospital and I just…" Amy sighed, running her tongue over her lips. "I wasn't sure if I was ready to just pick up and act as if nothing had changed, you know? Everything is just so different now. _I'm _different."

Ty nodded, able to see her point. "And Jesse didn't fit in with this different you?"

"I guess not…"

"You could have made him fit, if he meant that much to you." Ty pointed out, which had been pretty much the same thing Lou was trying to tell her back at the house.

"Yeah… The thing is, I should probably feel a lot worse about us breaking up, but I don't. I'm not upset or… hurt. Not about that anyway." It was more the way in which they broke up that upset her, but not at all the fact that they had. Now that it was over with Jesse, Amy realized she actually almost felt relieved because now she didn't have to worry about continuing to lead him on or struggling through more strained and awkward dates when she honestly no longer had any real interest in continuing the relationship.

"Am I a terrible person for feeling relieved that it's over? That I don't have to pretend anymore?"

"No. I mean it kind of sounds like it was headed that way anyway. It wouldn't have been fair to either one of you to drag it out anymore if there was nothing left. It just kind of sucks it ended like it did." Ty still knew that if he ever ran into this Jesse kid he wouldn't be walking away with a clean shirt. Whether it had been a minor altercation or not, the fact that he didn't back off of Amy from the start was just wrong and unacceptable.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Hearing it from another person's point of view did make Amy feel a little bit better about not being upset, but she still wished it didn't happen the way it did. She liked Jesse, even as just a friend, but now she wasn't really sure how they could even continue to be friends after tonight. It would just be so uncomfortable with Amy being reminded of tonight every time she looked at him.

"I'm sorry… did you just say I was right?" Ty blinked, thinking he might have heard wrong.

Amy looked up, surprised and rewinding the moment in her head a few seconds, realizing she did actually say Ty was right. But Amy rolled her eyes and finally did turn away from him to finish doing night check. "I said, I guessed you were right, that doesn't mean that you actually were," she called back to him.

"Well, it does to me." Ty laughed, moving his guitar aside to he could stand up and follow her out into the aisle.

"Yeah, well, don't let it go to your head cause you won't hear it again from me," she tossed a flake of hay at him from the bale she'd broken open, laughing then reaching down to take two more and toss them into the nearest stall.

"Hey!" Ty exclaimed, catching the hay against his chest but getting a face full of dust and loose strands in his mouth. He took what he managed to keep in his hands when the rest fell apart and onto the floor, throwing it back at Amy.

The hay fight that ensued covered most of the barn and outside into the yard, their laughter breaking through the still winter night and turning what had started out as a disastrous Valentine's Day into the beginning of what would become a love for the ages.


	4. Author's Notes from Reviews (April 25)

_GKB: Please don't leave this story just give it a better ending & put them together to hold & loving each other!_

Not every story is going to end with them happy and in love and kissing. This story takes place around the very first episode of the show, before Amy and Ty even consider having those feelings for each other. For me to end it with them in love would take a lot more chapters, otherwise it will just be forced and rushed. This was originally set to be a one-shot, but I got a little carried away with it, which is why it's three parts. I ended it with the hint of things to come, because all who watch the show knows what happens between them but it was just a short alternate scenario of one event of the show.


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